For Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 👋

1 – Recent state grants focus on coastal management.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is doling out more than $330,000 in grants to help protect, preserve, restore, enhance and wisely develop coastal resources. 

Michigan is the steward of the nation’s longest freshwater coastline, officials say, since we’re surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, and 62 percent of the basin’s total coastline.

The 2025 awardees include the East Michigan Council of Governments for a Saginaw Bay Coastal Resiliency Work Plan. About $26,000 will go to help the council provide information to local officials for addressing coastal hazards in Arenac, Bay, Huron, Iosco, Sanilac and Tuscola counties. 

A grant summary notes that the Lake Huron shoreline has been volatile in the past decade, with record high and low water levels. This has resulted in numerous coastal hazards including flooding, erosion and ice flow damage. The grant will help with workshops in the region and a professional review of local hazard mitigation plans. 

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2 – If you want to take an active role in protecting and preserving the Great Lakes, you might want to check out a webinar from the Alliance for the Great Lakes. 

The environmental group, which coordinates beach cleanups among other projects, held the session earlier this month to talk to people about getting involved. 

Major issues facing the lakes in 2025 also were covered. 

The Shore to Shore webinar is online for those who missed it, and can find the Alliance at GreatLakes.org. 

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3 – A decade-long study by Calvin University researchers found that fish-eating birds nesting in polluted shoreline areas of Michigan suffer from lower reproductive success and higher rates of deformities compared to those in cleaner environments.

The Detroit Free Press reported on the study by the university in Grand Rapids. According to the story, a biologist analyzed colonies of gulls, terns and herons from 2010 to 2019, comparing contaminated sites including Saginaw Bay with cleaner reference locations. 

The study, published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, found higher rates of nonviable embryos, poor chick growth despite an abundant food supply and a declining number of nests. 

The findings highlight the persistent ecological damage caused by chemicals banned decades ago, with pollutants continuing to biomagnify through the food chain. 

The research, funded by the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, informs ongoing efforts to restore Areas of Concern in Michigan.

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard at 6:45 and 8:45 Friday mornings on Delta College Public Radio 90.1 FM in University Center, Michigan, near Bay City (listen live). Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes

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